Tag: British Rock

Whenever I listen to “Three Sides Live”, I cant help but wonder why Genesis chose that as the album’s name, since it was only partially relevant.

When it was released in the United States in 1982, “Three Sides Live” seemed a perfectly descriptive name. It was a double album, so there were four sides – three sides were recorded live and one was studio recorded B-sides and songs from an earlier EP. So…”Three Sides Live”…Yeah, I get it.

The thing is, when Genesis released “Three Sides Live” at the same time in their native England (as well as in the rest of the U.K. and Europe) the five studio songs on side four were replaced by three more live songs, so all four sides on the record were from live performances. I can’t help but wonder if everyone on the other side of the pond went “‘Three Sides Live’…Yeah…I don’t get it.”

I have both versions of “Three Sides Live”, but only the U.S. version on vinyl. My U.K. version is on CD, which makes the title even more irrelevant since there aren’t even three sides, let alone three sides live. Either way, both versions have some great music on the fourth side.

This marks the 200th post to my blog. I feel a need to make it about an exceptional album.

In 1967 color TV was a big deal. So were The Beatles. What better combination could there have been then, than to make a colour movie for the telly featuring their music and, of course starring the fab four themselves?

The hour-long programme had to be originally broadcast in black and white when the BBC first aired it on boxing day (the day after Christmas in the U.K.). However, it aired again in colour a couple of weeks later.

Although the album soundtrack to the film was well received, the movie itself – a story of a bus trip across England and the bizarre events that occur on it – was not. Probably because the film had a psychedelic feel to it that was not appreciated by elder viewer. Opinion of the movie changed as time passed and both are now considered classics.

The album came in a gatefold cover that included a 24 page full color book with scenes from the movie. Because of the original packaging, “Magical Mystery Tour” is an album that could never be presented effectively when released decades later on the smaller CD format.

One of the things I find interesting about the Magical Mystery Tour album packaging is that the album the cover uses the American spelling of color when referring to the book inside, but the book itself uses the British spelling of colour when referencing the movie.

Wishbone Ash is a British rock band that formed in the early ’70s and used dual lead guitars that many would bands would try to emulate, but few could equal. Wishbone Ash’s seventh album, “New England” saw them move somewhat away from the strong progressive rock sound they had in their beginning towards a more blues and contemporary sound. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t any impressive musicianship on “New England”. By this time Wishbone Ash had become more concise with their songwriting. They were able to fuse a wider array of styles together in the span of one album than they ever did before while still including some impressive dual lead jamming. This helped make “New England” one of Wishbone Ash’s most diversified albums ever and my favorite by them.

Wishbone Ash chose the name “New England” for their seventh album because they had recently moved to that area of the United States to avoid the high tax rates in Great Britain. The tax rate could go as high as 95 percent if you grossed enough income in a year. Many bands simply could not afford to pay their taxes and relocated themselves and their assets to other countries they had lower tax rates. most didn’t advertise that they were tax exiles. Apparently, Wishbone Ash wasn’t one of them.

British bands in the 70s loved to emulate the sound of American Southern blues rock bands. If ever there was a British band that sounded like an American southern rock band, it was Savoy Brown, especially on their seventh album, Street Corner Talking. So much so in fact, that for the longest time, I had no idea they were British.

Savoy Brown saw significant changes in the band’s lineup on “Street Corner Talking”. In between this and their previous album, three of the remaining original band members left and formed the band Foghat. This left lead guitarist Kim Simmonds as the only remaining original member. This obviously changed the sound of the band noticeably. Whether for the better or for the worse is debatable. The bottom line is, they still were able to release one of their best albums ever.

“Street Corner Talking” is loaded with Southern Blues grooves, catchy riffs, and just plain and simply great songs. All of the songs on it are originals, written or co-written by Simmonds, with the exception of the closer, “Wang Dang Doodle”, which was written and originally performed by Dixon.

“Street Corner Talking” is album that’s easy to track all the way through. As a matter of fact, I find it impossible not to. The opening track, “Tell Mama” is possibly my favorite Savoy Brown song. I still can’t believe it’s not being played by an American southern rock band.

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